How To Save A Life
by DucksFan1510
Summary: The Dixon Brothers meet up with Shane's group a few times. But the last time they do, it's an accident. And they need help. T because its the apocalypse and Dixons swear.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright so here is the next big story. Basically it's about Daryl and Merle meeting up right when the apocalypse starts and then continuing on from there. Of course, it's my own take on it so things will probably be way off how it really happened but whatever. In this story the apocalypse starts in September. So it's closer to winter.**

**Chapter 1**

Daryl was waiting at the front of his house when Merle pulled up in his truck. His older brother jumped out and jogged up to him.

"Man, it's all over the news. People are freakin biting each other. It's like the freakin Hunger Games," Merle said as he stood next to him.

Daryl glanced around, "Hasn't gotten here yet. Think we should go after Dad or just leave?"

Merle snorted, "We're just going to leave. You might have some weird soft spot for him but I don't."

Daryl rolled his eyes as he walked to Merle's truck and tossed his bag in the bed. He thought for a second before adding his crossbow to the pile. He didn't have a soft spot for his dad. But in the end they were still family. Even if he was an abusive asshole. Daryl glanced back at what was in the bed of the truck. Merle's bike was there as well as a good selection of guns. He pulled his pistol out of the bag on the side of Merle's bike. If what Merle said was true, he'd probably need it.

He heard Merle shut the door to the driver's side of the truck so he walked around to the other side and climbed in. He saw the backseat had some food and their tents.

"What are you planning?" Daryl asked.

Merle shrugged, "Figure we'll camp out in the woods until this whole thing blows over. I don't really want to be around these biters."

Daryl nodded, "And you also figure that I'll be doing all the hunting while you sit around on your ass getting drunk."

Merle smirked, "Not all the time."

Daryl turned back to the backseat where he saw a few eight packs full.

"Yea you won't do it all the time," he said as he grabbed two of the three and dropped them out the window as they drove.

Merle hit him, "What the hell was that for? C'mon I wanted those."

Daryl shrugged, "You still got eight. And you'll probably get your hands on some more."

The ride was silent for a little while. They were trying to get out of Atlanta and were making pretty good progress until they were actually on the road to get out. Merle groaned as they ran into everyone else who was trying to get out too.

"God damn. With how slow we're going the biters will catch up to us," Merle said angrily.

Daryl sighed. Merle had given the infected people the nickname and it was starting to get on Daryl's nerves. He looked out of the front window and saw that the sun was about set. They'd been driving for a good four hours or so.

"Are we going to be camping here? In the car?" he asked and Merle was quiet for a few minutes.

"It looks like we'll have to. I don't trust being out in the woods yet," Merle said finally.

Daryl nodded and then opened the door, "I'm going to take a look around. See what's going on."

Merle nodded and reached towards the backseat, "And while you do that I'll take a drink."

Daryl snarled at him, "I'm not riding with a drunk driver. You better keep yourself under control."

He climbed out of the truck and headed down the road. Maybe he could get some information on what happened. There were so many people though. He wished he'd taken the time to actually get to know some of them so he wouldn't feel weird going up to them now. He shrugged and continued to glance around at the people standing outside their cars. There was an old guy with two girls. That looked safe. They had an RV too.

He walked over, "Hey do you guys um know what's going on?"

The old man studied for him a minute before shaking his head, "All I know is that it's a crazy disease. And if one of those infected people bite you, you're better off dead."

Daryl kneeled down, "What do you mean? That's how they transfer the sickness?"

The old man nodded, "Pretty sure. A lot of the infected are already dead but those who aren't dead are one of those things. Better watch out, son."

Daryl rolled his eyes. He hated when people called him 'son' just because they were older than him.

"So just stay away from the infected? Is that it?" he asked.

The man nodded again, "I think all of Atlanta is infected. That's why we needed to evacuate. But I'll bet that some of those things are getting out of the city too. If they get up here, all hell will break loose. What's your name by the way?"

Daryl frowned, "Daryl. What about you?" Why did this guy want to know his name?

"Dale. Sorry if that question took you by surprise but in this situation, who knows when the end is going to come. It's always nice to meet new people. Good luck Daryl."

Daryl nodded and walked away from the old guy. So Dale believed that they were pretty much doomed. He decided to try someone else but before he could, there were screams from out in the trees. More people started running towards the trees that blocked Atlanta from their sight. Daryl followed them. He jogged down towards where the people were standing. Something under his foot moved and he ended up stumbling forward and falling on top of a woman.

"Sorry, sorry about that. Didn't mean to-" He was cut off when someone grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him up off the woman.

The person who pulled him off grabbed a fistful of his shirt, "Watch where you're going. We already have enough trouble without you running into everyone."

The woman got up slowly, "Shane, Shane let him go. He's just as scared as the rest of us."

The guy, Shane, tugged him closer, "You got that? Get out of here."

Daryl pushed away from Shane and walked off. He didn't want to start a scene because then Merle would show up and make things worse. He looked towards the city and saw why people were screaming. The military was bombing the place. This disease must have been big. He watched for a few minutes before jogging back to the car.

Merle was sitting in the driver's seat waiting for him, "Well what's going on little bro?"

Daryl climbed back into the car, "Pretty serious. We don't want to touch the biters. If they bite you, you're infected. Oh and the military is bombing the city."

Merle nodded, "Your regular everyday epidemic. I have a feeling this is going to be pretty freakin big. We need to get out of here fast."

It took another day but they finally managed to get out of the huge traffic jam and out on the road again. A lot of the people had headed out of the state but they decided to just find a safe place out near the trees. There'd be hunting grounds and not many other people. The two of them were good at camping. They'd done it a lot. From what they could figure out through the radio, most of the U.S. was suffering from this epidemic. There wasn't really anywhere to go.

Daryl glanced at Merle, "Do you think we got this thing too?"

Merle shook his head, "Nah, if we did then we'd be walking around trying to eat people."

Daryl looked away, "Well maybe it has to be activated by the bite or something. I mean we could all have it. What if it's airborne?"

Merle leaned against one of the trees near their camp, "Look if it was airborne then we would know we had it. There'd be some sign or something."

Daryl didn't argue him. He was actually kind of glad that Merle had shot down his questions. He wasn't sure if he could handle the thought of one of them turning into one of those biters.

"Did the people on the road say anything else about this?" Merle asked. Daryl thought back to what that old guy had said, "They said that a lot of the infected people were already dead. But the ones that aren't are those things."

Merle nodded, "We already knew that."

Daryl shrugged and turned back towards their little fire. He hoped this thing would get under control. He was just getting used to living a normal life by himself. Night was coming on their first night on their own. Daryl hadn't moved from the fire. Winter was coming soon and it would be cold. Hopefully this thing would be done.

Merle sat down across from him, "So what were you doing by yourself?"

Daryl looked over at him, "Actually living. Why do you care?"

Merle leaned back, "Wanted to see what you thought of being on your own."

Daryl glared at him, "I knew what that felt like long before I was an adult, Merle."

Merle met his eyes, "New topic."

Daryl rolled his eyes, "Go to sleep. I'll keep watch over things."

Merle laughed, "Keep watch? C'mon little brother we don't gotta keep watch. Those things aren't going to get us."

Daryl sighed, "We don't know what they're capable of. I would rather be safe."

The two of them continued sitting around the fire.

Daryl nodded at his older brother, "Look, you go to sleep and I'll watch."

Merle huffed, "I should at least take the first watch. I'm older." Daryl looked at him, "I'm fine. Go to bed. I'll wake you up halfway through the night. Then you can watch until morning."

Merle sighed but nodded. Daryl watched him climb into his tent. At first Merle hadn't wanted to take watch at all but then he was trying to get Daryl to rest first. Daryl couldn't go to sleep right now if he tried. Too much had happened over the past two days. No matter how much he wanted to believe that this thing would blow over in a month, he had a feeling that it would last for a lot longer. He shivered slightly and moved closer to the fire. He was glad that Merle had actually thought about what he was packing rather than just throwing random things in the truck. They had a large amount of food and water. They had blankets. They had tents. And they were in the woods. If this had been in any other circumstances, Daryl would've loved doing this.

He counted the arrows that he had with his crossbow. There were ten of them. He'd need more. He wouldn't always be able to retrieve some of his arrows and he would slowly lose them. That would be what he would do tomorrow. He smiled slightly. He and Merle were basically on a big expedition. They'd live off the land and then eventually move back into a home. He hadn't shot his gun in a while. He'd probably need to work with it a few times before he could pull off a great shot. He'd been shooting his crossbow every few days though, so he was perfect with that.

His thoughts turned to the people he'd met on the road. Dale and the two girls and that Shane guy with that woman. He wondered if they were all alive. He kind of hoped that Shane wasn't since he seemed like a jerk. The woman was alright and so were the others. He hoped they had made it out somehow. He knew that what really mattered was that he and Merle were alive. Well, that's what Merle would say anyway. He knew that Merle didn't like the fact that he cared about other people. The fact that he actually hoped others were alright instead of wishing them all dead.

He went to wake Merle up later that night but the way that Merle got up so quickly showed that maybe his older brother hadn't slept the best. Daryl rolled over on his side in the tent. He needed to relax. The two of them were just out together camping. That was it. That was all there was to it. They'd get out of whatever this was. But what if one of the biters tried to attack them? Would they have to kill them? That seemed like the only thing they could do. He didn't really want to kill people. But were they really people? Maybe he'd ask Merle about it in the morning. He closed his eyes and let exhaustion take over.

**Tell me what you think. Should I keep going? Hope you liked it! Reviews would be awesome!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter is up! Hope you guys enjoy some more Daryl! By the way, most of the story will be from Daryl's point of view. But there are going to be some points where it's from Merle's point of view as well. Or other people. Depending on what fits the best.**

**Chapter 2**

He headed out the next morning to go hunting. They did have food, but he was only going to eat it if they didn't have any food and he'd told Merle the same thing. His brother hadn't been happy about it but he had agreed. Of course it meant more work for him. Daryl was out in the woods with his crossbow slung over his shoulder and his hunting knife strapped to his belt. Most of the game would be leaving since it was almost winter. He'd need to get as much as he could before that happened. He continued his walk. It'd been early when he had decided to leave so he had plenty of time to get what he needed.

By early afternoon his hunting knife had been joined by a few squirrels and a rabbit. Should he get more? He shrugged. Why not? Then maybe he wouldn't have to go out tomorrow. He continued deeper into the woods. Hopefully Merle wasn't doing stupid things back at the camp since he really didn't need anything else on his mind. Maybe that was the reason that he missed the cracks of branches behind him at first. He was over thinking things again and wasn't paying attention. He did hear it eventually though and turned around to come face to face with a person.

"Whoa. What are ya-" he stopped.

This wasn't a person. This was one of those biters. He backed away at first. What was he supposed to do? Just kill it? Maybe it would go away. But it started coming towards him again so that was out of the question. How did he kill it? He fired his crossbow at it and hit it in the chest. That should do it right? He started walking towards the thing to grab his arrow. But it wasn't dropping like it should. His arrow was directly in its chest. Why wasn't it dead? Daryl wasn't sure what he should do next. Should he shoot it again? Maybe his arrow hadn't penetrated deep enough or something. But the thing should've at least acted hurt. It kept coming towards him and it snarled at him. Its arms reached out to grab him and he twisted away from it. He aimed again, this time towards its eyes. This time, when the arrow made contact, the thing fell and didn't move again. So he had to shoot them in the head. He retrieved his two arrows and turned around to go back to camp. He'd had enough of the woods for today. When he got back to camp, Merle was lounging on the ground with a fire going.

"You got us anything?" Merle asked as he looked towards Daryl.

"Yea plenty. Look, Merle we gotta talk about something," Daryl replied quickly and went to the other side of the fire.

Merle stretched and sat up across from him, "What happened? Run into some other people?"

"No. I ran into a biter," Daryl said as he glanced at his older brother to see his reaction.

Merle met his eyes, "Did it get you?"

"No. I'm fine. But they don't die correctly. You have to hit them in the head, I think. I shot it in the chest but it didn't stop. Merle, I think they're already dead," he said quietly voicing the thought that had been running through his mind all day.

Merle laughed, "This isn't a horror film, Daryl. There's no such thing as people coming back to life after death. Especially in the state they're in."

Daryl knew Merle would react like this. "It didn't die when I shot an arrow through its chest. What other explanation could there be?!" he asked angrily.

Merle shrugged but didn't answer him. There wasn't another reason possibility. Daryl finished skinning one of his squirrels and tossed it to Merle who started cutting and cooking it. A half hour later all the game that Daryl had caught was cooked and they were eating.

"Look at the facts, Merle. It didn't stop moving after I shot it through the chest. It growled at me. Whatever the hell it is, it's not human. And did I forget to mention that it had pieces missing? One of its arms was barely even there. It's dead, Merle. They're all dead," Daryl said as he took a mouthful of food.

His brother leaned back, "Fine believe what you want."

Daryl looked at him, "What else is there to believe? Don't turn into one of those people that always believe there's something coming!"

Merle glared at him, "I never said that. I said believe what you want. We aren't being invaded by the dead! That's insane!"

"You haven't seen them up close! They're gone. Shooting them a hundred times in the chest isn't going to stop them! What else could possibly explain why it wouldn't die!?" Daryl was getting mad now. Why couldn't his brother just believe him for once?

Merle walked over to him, "Alright Daryl, get some sleep or something. You think you're in one of those horror movies I forced you to watch when we were kids. Remember those? The ones you used to hide behind the couch in?"

"Shut up!" Daryl snarled at him, "You don't get to bring that up!"Merle laughed and shoved Daryl onto his back, "These people might be crazy. They might look weird. But they're not zombies little brother."

Daryl pushed himself off the ground, "Are you ever going to believe me about things Merle? Ever? Cause I'm sick of you thinking that I lie about everything. That's your game not mine."

That shut Merle up and Daryl turned away from him. He didn't like going for low blows in an argument. It felt like the stupid way out. He'd always try to come up with a smart remark to send back at his opponent. He usually didn't bring out their faults. He'd been really good at it when he was a kid. He glanced out towards the grass outside of the woods. He saw it coming this time.

"We need to move Merle. They're all over here," he said quietly.

Merle joined him, "Shit. That's a lot. How are we going to pack up?"

"I don't know. Just throw the stuff in the back of the truck. We don't gotta pack nice or anything. We'll be fine. They aren't fast," Daryl said as he started folding his tent up.

Merle nodded and they hurried around the camp picking up what they could. Daryl cast occasional glances at the oncoming group of biters. They needed to go faster. He noticed that Merle had been looking at the group as well. There had to be a good ten or fifteen of them.

"Well we should move a little faster," Merle said as they continued putting their stuff in the bed.

Daryl nodded. The biters had caught sight of them. They would be here in about ten seconds. "Get in the car, Merle. I'll grab the last things."

His brother nodded at him and jogged around to the other side of the truck to start it up. Daryl tossed the last couple pieces of equipment into the bed of their truck. He pulled his knife out of his belt and hit the first biter in the head as it came at him. If he could get rid of these few then they'd have a clear ride out of here. The whole group wouldn't get here. He turned and slashed the second one across the face. Three more. He shot the next one and Merle poked his head out of the truck, "Come on what's taking so long?!"

Daryl rolled his eyes as he felt something grab him. He jumped against the truck and turned to stab the biter who was gripping at him. But there were two of them right there. And they were strong too. He gripped his knife and stabbed it into one of the biters' heads it fell on him and he shoved it off. The second one was already on him and his knife was in the other's head. This was not good. He tried to push it off of him but it really wanted to get at him. All of a sudden its head slammed sideways and it dropped. He looked up to see Merle standing over him with an axe in his hand.

"Well, that thing sure wanted ya. Get in the car Daryl," Merle said as he hurried around to the other side. Daryl retrieved his knife and bolt from the dead biters and then jumped into the truck.

"When did you get out of the truck?" Daryl asked.

"When I saw you disappear. You fell on the ground after you killed that one thing," Merle replied quickly. His brother wasn't looking at him. It was silent for a long time as they drove away from the scene. Daryl didn't really want to bring anything up about the fight. It had been slightly terrifying. He would never tell Merle that though.

"I think you're right Daryl," Merle said finally and Daryl was surprised to hear him say that.

"What do you mean?" he asked. Was Merle admitting he was right?

"About them being dead. I think you're right," Merle said again.

Daryl nodded, "See? I told you."

Merle rolled his eyes, "This isn't some little contest Daryl. Glad you told me about hitting them in the head. Probably would've made it worse if I had swung the axe into its back and shoved it down on ya."

Daryl nodded again and went back to looking out the window. Wherever they were going, he hoped it would be far away from anymore of those biters.

"Where are we going?" he asked finally.

"I think we should find a new area to go camping at. And since most of the population is gone…" Merle started.

Daryl cut him off, "Wait, what do you mean?"

Merle nodded, "I heard it right before the radio cut off. We're basically screwed with communication. The reporters said that most of Georgia's population was wiped out as well as states around it. The military was going into hospitals and stuff trying to wipe out any traces there. Didn't work very well."

Daryl didn't answer right away. He and Merle could be some of the last people in Georgia. Or the last now. The car seemed colder then it was. The world seemed a lot bigger then it had been before. Merle turned to him and slowed down the car, "Hey you alright?"

"Yea I'm fine. Sorry," Daryl said quickly. Merle nodded and started going faster again.

"So where are we going?" Daryl asked again.

"I was thinking maybe we could try and camp out again. And on the way, since we're the last people on Earth, take some stuff from the stores. The more we can get the better. And since its starting to get colder out, we'll need somewhere to stay," Merle explained.

Daryl nodded, "So no camping? We have enough to get by outside."

"Yea but we'll be sick as hell and freezing our asses off," Merle said as he glanced out the window.

They didn't reach their destination until late that night. It almost reminded Daryl of their first night on the road. With a lot less people and cars. They set up quickly. Daryl was happy with just setting up his tent and getting everything else done in the morning. Merle had said that he would take the first watch tonight so Daryl had time to sleep. Daryl climbed into his tent but something came into his mind again. "Hey Merle?" he asked quietly.

"What is it?"

"Do you think we're the last people left here?"

It was quiet for a few minutes before Merle answered quietly, "I don't know, little brother, I don't know."

**Hope you all liked it! Thanks for reading! Reviews would be excellent!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So I guess I disappeared for a little while. More Daryl and Merle in the zombie apocalypse! Thank you guys all for reading and reviewing so far! You guys are great!**

**Chapter 3**

Merle told him not to go hunting the next day. Apparently they had enough food to get through a few days so it was basically boring as hell. The two of them had just been sitting around the fire all day. Daryl had been making extra arrows for his crossbow because he literally had nothing to do. He almost wanted to tell Merle that he was going out hunting no matter what he said because he was not going to sit around here all day. He noticed Merle glance over at him multiple times. Had Merle noticed how much he'd been fidgeting? He hoped not. He didn't need his brother's harassment on top of his boredom. Hell, he wouldn't mind killing a few biters to amuse himself. He finished with his arrows and then glanced over at Merle.

"I could use a quiver of some sort," he said as he grabbed his arrows.

Merle rolled his eyes, "Well that just sucks for you because I'm not risking my life for that."

"I'm just saying I could use one," Daryl snapped.

"And I'm just saying I'm not getting you one!" Merle countered.

"Fine. But I'm not sitting here anymore. Let's move or something. We're still close to the city," Daryl said.

Merle looked at him like he was crazy, "Yea let's move from here. We haven't been attacked by those things yet. We don't gotta go anywhere."

"Well then I'm going out hunting," Daryl said as he stood up and shouldered his crossbow.

"The hell you are! You're not going anywhere. I told ya we were staying here!" Merle said as he got up as well.

"I can't just sit here all day doing nothing! That's pointless," Daryl said as he started walking towards the edge of their camp.

"It's more pointless going out there doing something we don't need done yet and getting yourself killed!" Merle yelled from behind him.

Daryl froze and turned back to his older brother. Merle was standing in the middle of their camp glaring at him. His brother stalked up to him.

"Now you look here, Daryl. I'm older. I'm in charge. You're not going out there and that's all there is to it," Merle growled at him.

"I went out there before! I went out hunting yesterday and you didn't say shit!" Daryl said angrily. "I can take care of myself!"

Merle nodded coldly, "Yea well then you shouldn't complain about me not being by your side every minute of the day when we were kids. Cause you can take of yourself right?"

Daryl stopped yelling and stared at his older brother who wasn't moving either. The argument had gone a little too far. Daryl nodded slightly at his older brother, "Fine I won't complain then. And I'm…..I'm going hunting."

Daryl walked out of the camp and into the woods. He hadn't meant to get into an argument with his brother. He just needed to do something other than sit around. He could defend himself out here. Merle didn't have to be so protective. Since when did he care? He didn't. Whatever was going through his brother's head was making him even more of a jerk than he'd been before. He continued his trek into the woods. He wasn't really sure what he was looking for. Sure he said he was going hunting but, like Merle had said, they really didn't need any food. He just needed to get out of the camp.

He knew he should be happy to finally talk to his brother again. To finally be able to be with him again. But it wasn't as great as he'd thought it would be. They seemed to fight all the time. Maybe it was because they were too different from each other. But were they really? Daryl hated to admit that he'd considered doing a lot of the things Merle had done. He hadn't done them in the end but he'd been pretty close to trying some of the shit Merle had with him. He had the same temper as his brother did. Maybe even a worse one at times.

But the words that Merle had yelled at him had hurt a bit. Sure he could take care of himself now. He was older. He'd had to learn how to do it himself. So he did. It wasn't as easy when he was a kid. When things were different and he wasn't strong enough to fend off his enemies. He'd needed his older brother then. But where had Merle been? Locked up somewhere for selling drugs.

After about two hours in the woods, Daryl headed back in the direction of their camp. He wasn't sure if he wanted to talk with Merle. It might just end badly for the both of them. He found out about an hour later that he had been too caught up in his thoughts for about the third time in two days. He came out of the woods a little farther away from the camp than he would've liked. He was on top of a hill that looked down at his camp which looked to be a bit of a walk. He looked down at the camp. He could just barely make out their truck and their tents. He turned around to take in where exactly he was when he saw something not so pleasant. There were a few of those biters walking around and one of them was making its way towards him. He walked towards it and pulled out his knife. He didn't want to waste any of his arrows. He stabbed the thing through its eye before it could even touch him. Daryl pulled his knife out of the biter's skull and then glanced around. None of the others had really paid much attention to him.

He started up the hill to get going towards camp but he noticed this side was a bit steeper and made out of more dust and dirt than grass. His first step ended up with him sliding farther down the hill, losing his crossbow halfway down, and drawing the attention of another one of the biters. His pistol was in his belt. He'd had it with him all day. If he could get to it, he would be able to blow the thing's head out. It was closing in on him as he struggled to get to his feet. Stupid dirt. He reached for the gun in his belt and was glad when he felt his hand close around it. In another second, the biter was dead. But the other three were all coming over to him now. Daryl shot those three too. He started to make his way up the hill. The dirt was coming loose under his feet but he was making slow progress. If he could just get to his crossbow, he'd be almost to the top.

He heard them before he saw them. But when he looked down below him he wished he hadn't seen them. There had to be thirty of them, all trying to climb up and grab him. And they were coming. He wasn't sure how they were doing it but they were making progress towards him. Another loose pile of dirt sent him closer to the group of biters and he felt one of them miss his leg by an inch. He pulled out his knife and held it in his teeth while he climbed. He'd need quick access to it if one of them got to him. He was getting closer. His crossbow was just out of reach. The top was only another five or six feet. He managed to get to his crossbow fine. He put it over his shoulder and then continued up the hill. The closest biter was about two feet out of reach. He readied himself for his final push to get to the top and grabbed on to the grass on the top of the hill.

He was about to pull himself up when a hand grabbed his arm and another one grabbed his leg. Daryl's panic levels spiked. He was stuck in between all of them. He pulled his knife out of his teeth and stabbed the one grabbing his arm in the head. There weren't anymore on the top of the hill but one still had a firm grip on his leg and was trying to take a bite out of it. And if he couldn't get this one off the rest would be on him in an instant. He pulled himself towards the top hoping he could just get his leg out of the thing's grasp. He kicked at it with his foot but it wasn't giving up that easily. Another one was starting to gain ground on him too. He kicked it in the face again and this time it let go just in time for the second one to grab his other leg. He cursed angrily but he was more scared than angry. He hated to admit and he'd never tell Merle that he was. His grip was starting to loosen on the hilltop and he quickly found a better grip. He replaced his knife in his belt and then went for his gun. He shot the one gripping his foot and then pulled himself to the top of the hill. He tossed his crossbow off of him and rolled on to his back trying to catch his breath. There wasn't much time to waste though so he got up and shouldered his crossbow. He didn't care how tired he was, he ran back to camp.

Merle was standing with his gun ready, "What the hell is going on little brother?"

Daryl glanced back at the hill where the walkers were just starting to climb over, "We need to go. We need to go now."

"Told ya not to go out there! Just couldn't listen to me now could you?" Merle said angrily as he began packing things up.

"Why the hell would I listen to you Merle? What good advice have you ever given me?" Daryl snarled as he threw his crossbow into the truck along with his tent.

"You shut your mouth and help me pack things up. I don't know how many times its gonna take to make you see that every time you go out alone you end up bringing hordes of these biters back with you!" Merle said. The last thing was thrown into their truck and they were off and driving again. It was quiet for a long time. Neither of them wanted to talk to each other at that moment. The events of the day passed through Daryl's mind. How close he'd been to getting bit as he climbed up that hill.

"I'm not going out anymore for a while," Daryl said quietly.

"What did it take you a near death experience to figure that out?" Merle said but his tone seemed to have softened a bit. Daryl didn't say anything else as night started to fall on them. Merle glanced at him as he slowed the truck down a little.

"Well, did it?" Merle asked. Daryl shrugged and turned to look out the window.

"So it did then? Still gotta work on hiding things like that Daryl," Merle said and Daryl still kept his mouth shut. He didn't have anything to say to that. The craziness of the day started to catch up to him and he felt his eyes starting to close. He leaned his head against the cold glass of the window to try and keep himself awake but it wasn't working. He glanced over at his older brother.

"When do you think it'll get colder?" he asked.

"Sooner or later. It was middle of October when this all happened. We've been out for about four days or so. So it's close to the end of October," Merle said and Daryl could tell he was contemplating the whole arrangement. Daryl nodded and went back to looking out the window and trying to keep himself awake. Who knew what kind of trouble they could get into in the dark? But apparently Merle saw him trying to stay awake because next thing he knew there was a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Get some rest Daryl. I'll wake you up halfway through so you can drive," Merle said quietly. Merle had said something else too but he'd already fallen asleep.

**Hope you guys enjoyed! Thanks for reading! Reviews would make my day a lot better! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Next chapter is here guys! Hope you all like it! Merle's point of view for all of you!**

**Chapter 4**

Merle had seen his brother start to fall asleep on the window but then he'd started asking him questions. So he answered them in hopes that maybe Daryl would stay awake for a little while and he wouldn't have to drive alone. But a minute later his brother's head was pressed against the window again so he put his hand on Daryl's shoulder.

"Get some rest Daryl. I'll wake you up halfway through so you can drive," he said quietly and Daryl had nodded slightly. "Ya had a rough day."

He was pretty sure that Daryl hadn't heard that last part because he got no response from his little brother. So he continued to drive in silence. If they were going to stop, they weren't getting out of the car. He didn't trust the night especially after seeing the panic on his brother's face when he arrived back at the camp. Whatever had happened out there must have been pretty horrible.

It was good to be with Daryl again. He hadn't seen his brother for a long time. A long time. Close to twenty-five years. Sure they'd talked over the phone a few times and Daryl had come to see him in prison once in a while but other than that he'd barely seen his little brother grow up. There were a lot of questions that he'd wanted to ask Daryl. What was he doing? How was he making money? How was his anti-social life going? He needed answers but all that he'd managed to ask was how Daryl had been doing on his own before Daryl had shot him down and told him to go sleep. He knew that Daryl hated him for not being around and he had every right to. Merle just wished that now, since they were in this mess, his brother could try to forget about all of that. Maybe after all of this was over, the two of them could live together somewhere. It's not like any of them were planning on getting married.

When he'd seen the issue on the news with the freaky biters, he'd immediately called up Daryl and told him to pack up. If they had to evacuate the city then the two of them were going to leave together. He was glad that Daryl hadn't argued with him about anything because it moved things along a lot quicker. Merle hadn't been sure about what exactly was happening but it was a big deal. Daryl's whole explanation of it being dead people had been a little far-fetched in his opinion. But when Daryl had given him that 'why don't you ever trust me?' look, he had to cave in and finally admit to it later that night. They might as well go with whatever reason came up and if Daryl wanted it to be zombies then they were.

Merle didn't know why he was turning into some protective brother all of a sudden but he didn't like it. The experience with the biters by their truck had been a little too close in his opinion. He didn't want to end up with another situation like that. He knew if one of those things bit you, you were as good as dead and his little brother had come awfully close to having that happen. Merle wasn't sure what he would do if he ended up losing Daryl out here. He wasn't sure if he could take it.

The drive was silent for another hour before Daryl finally stirred in the front seat and shifted slightly. Merle glanced over at him but his brother didn't move again so he figured that it must've been some kind of dream. He wished Daryl would wake up because it was getting boring as hell driving out here. He had decided to circle back towards Atlanta. Maybe that way they could find a house to stay in for the winter and steal off some of the other houses. They didn't need to go there yet but maybe they could get a little closer to it. Camp out a few miles from the city and then move in when it got cold.

His wish was finally granted when Daryl woke up. Merle didn't fail to notice how his brother's hand was clenched into a fist or how his teeth were clenched at first but he didn't say anything. It's not like Daryl would answer him anyways.

"You're finally awake. I was getting bored," Merle said.

"Ya want me to drive? You've been awake a while," Daryl said quietly as he shifted in the seat.

"Nah I'll drive for a little longer. So what were you doing? Before all of this?" Merle asked hoping to get a little conversation going.

"Mechanic. Fixed cars," Daryl said quickly and then that conversation went away.

Merle tried again, "What about crazy stuff? Parties and such? Nothing?"

"Nope," Daryl said and the conversation ended again.

"What about girlfriends?" Merle said.

Daryl rolled his eyes, "No."

Mere sighed, "Well I'm out of conversation ideas. Thank you very much. You're definitely the best person to hang out with when the population is vanishing."

"Don't gotta hang out with me if you don't want to."

"What was that a record? Eleven words at one time? You might want to pace yourself there little brother."

"Shut up. I don't feel like talking."

"That was an alright sentence. Let's try to get nine words this time."

"Merle! Shut up! This isn't some little vacation we're taking!"

"Ten will do fine too."

"I'm done."

Merle snickered and punched Daryl in the shoulder. His brother was so easy to annoy. That was probably a trait that Daryl had gotten from him. Both of them were very easy to piss off. Though, Merle thought sometimes, Daryl was a little easier to get angry. He also seemed to have a bigger temper. Daryl had an easier time forgiving people than Merle did but he'd beat them up once and forget about it whereas Merle would hunt them down for years and never forget about them. For two brothers, they weren't very similar.

"So where are we going Merle?" Daryl asked from the seat next to him.

"Outside the city. Once it gets colder, we'll go find a house."

"What about all the infected people in the city?"

"Thought you said that guy told you they were mostly dead?"

"Oh yea. Yea you're right. Ya think we could stop for a minute? I need a blanket cause it's getting cooler."

"They're in the backseat. Just reach back and get one."

His brother sighed, "Ok fine. Stop the car so I can get the blanket and take over for you because you need some sleep."

"Fine. But you're not doing it for the rest of the night."

"Wish we had the radio to drown out your snoring. I'll do it for however long I feel like it," Daryl said as he and Merle switched places.

Merle climbed into the backseat and handed him his blanket, "Here don't freeze to death. I'll be back here. Wake me up if you need help with anything. You know….like if you forget how to drive. Or if you need someone to trade places with you so you can go take a little nap back here. Or if you need help opening some kind of food….."

"Shut up Merle!" Daryl said from the driver's seat and Merle grinned at him. His brother started to drive and Merle relaxed in the backseat. Hell, even if this thing never did actually blow over and things never went back to normal, at least he and Daryl would be out here together. They were pretty invincible together. As long as they had each other's backs then there would be no way either of them could get hurt. If they could make it through the winter then they'd have a chance at making it for a long time. But winter was always tough. Things got colder. Animals ran off. They'd have to rely on stealing from houses for a good four months.

Merle glanced over at his brother who was driving steadily down the road. If Merle lost him, there'd really be no reason to continue going on. But that wouldn't happen. Because he would make sure that no matter what happened, his little brother would be safe. There wasn't going to be any more of those suicide hunting trips. They would either go together or they wouldn't go at all. Merle shut his eyes. There was no use in worrying about it now. He'd tell Daryl his plans in the morning. Maybe they could stock up a little more before the winter came.

**Thanks for reading guys! Hope you all liked it! If you did then please leave a review! It would be great! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Next chapter is here! So I was thinking about maybe renaming this story because it doesn't go along with the point of views I'm putting in this story. I had different ones in mind at first but I changed my mind. So the title may change. Not sure though.**

**Chapter 5**

They arrived a little outside the city and that's where Merle had told him to stop driving. Daryl climbed out of the truck and looked around. They weren't by any trees. They were in an open circle of grass. There was a clear view of Atlanta though.

"Thinking that we should head into the city. Steal some things," Merle said from the other side of the truck. Daryl nodded and then started unloading the truck. If this was going to be where they were staying, they'd need more supplies than what they already had.

"Ya think there will be more of those biters in the city? Might be safer out here than in there," he said quickly. He hadn't really directed his statement at Merle but he wanted his brother to hear his thoughts.

"Sure. We can stay out here. If you really want to take the chance that the rabbits will stick around for winter. I'd rather have at least one alternative to animal meat. Come on, we will only be in the city for a day," Merle said and those were the last words on the matter. Daryl nodded at him again and went back to the truck to get his tent set up. When he came back he saw Merle already had his up.

"I really don't know why I brought both of our tents since one of us is going to be sitting up for half the night anyway. I could've brought other things," Merle complained as he sat down in front of his tent.

"Like what? More of your drinks? No thank you. Ya don't need any more of those. And I'm not going to be happy if that's what we're going into the city to find," Daryl growled as he finished putting his tent up.

"No way little brother. This run into the city is for necessities only."

"Merle, you think alcohol is a necessity."

"Shut up."

The next morning the two of them were up and moving before the sun was completely up. They were on their way to the city. They hadn't really come up with a problem except just to get in and out without attracting too many biters. When they reached the edge of the city they decided to walk the rest of the way. Daryl followed his brother towards their first hit. They were going into some store that they could no longer tell what it was. The letters that used to be on it had kind of rotted off. Daryl guessed it was one of those big stores that had all kinds of things. Like a Walmart or a Costco or some store like that.

"Alright now you can go check the aisles over there for food and other important things. I'll go and look for our weapons," Merle said as he headed in one direction. Daryl headed off in the other and started looking through shelves. There seemed to still be a lot of things on the shelves which was good and bad. More for them. That was good. But it also meant that not many other people had been here. Which meant a lot of them were probably dead. He began digging through the cans and packages on the shelves. He took anything that looked like it wouldn't spoil for a while. What else was important other than food? Medicine? Would they need that? He shrugged. Might as well see if there was any before he decided if they take any. He moved into a different section of the store and came across the stuff he was looking for. Bandages would be good. And painkillers if things got rough. He grabbed both of those items

"Meet me in the front of the store in five minutes," Merle called from the other side of the store.

"Got it," Daryl called back to him.

Daryl headed over to another aisle and his eyes fell on one of the shelves. It was full of books. He'd never been a big reader. But now it didn't seem like a bad idea. He wouldn't mind having a few to read every so often. He shook his head. Necessities only. No books. He walked out of that aisle and went in search of more food. Merle was supposed to have their weapons. He needed to get their food. Not books. He had to keep pushing those stupid books from his mind. Merle would kill him if he found out that he'd brought books back with him. He dug through another shelf and found a few more cans of food items they could use.

He decided to check one more part of the store before he went to meet Merle. He wondered if this store had soup. That kind of stuff would be good, especially in winter. He was in luck. The store had a ton of it. He took a bunch of those cans as well. He knew that Merle was probably waiting for him. He headed back towards the door but as he walked back he realized that he was passing those damn books again. Screw it. He was taking some. Just one or two. They wouldn't take up any room. And Merle didn't have to know. He met up with his brother in the front of the store.

"Ya find everything?" he asked.

"Not many weapons here. Hunting store around here? Or even a sporting goods store? If we could find one of those then I'd be able to get some good weapons. We're going to need ammo too," Merle replied.

"We got a while, Let's go and look around," Daryl said as they walked out of the store and into the street. He was surprised at how few biters were around them at the time. There weren't any that he could see at the time. Ahead of them was one of the hunting stores that Merle had been talking about. His brother jogged in front of him.

"Ya can take a look around if you want. I'm going to grab some stuff we'll probably need," Merle said over his shoulder. Daryl nodded at him but stayed outside. He decided that he'd take a walk down to the other end of the street. See what other kinds of stores there were.

He couldn't believe his luck when he ran into a police station. They had to have guns and ammo in there. He raised his crossbow as he nudged the door open with his foot. When he made sure that there was nothing else joining him in the station, he moved inside. He had a feeling that the place where they kept the weapons was locked. Though he knew exactly where it was. He was ashamed of it but he'd been arrested once for doing Merle's dirty work for him. And then he'd gotten to spend a few nights in another station because he'd gotten in a rather nasty street fight. He had only been in the station for a day or so but he could sort of figure out how to get into the weapons locker. He was smart like that.

He moved quietly through the abandoned building. He found the door to the place with the weapons and he almost kicked something out of frustration. The door was already open. And almost everything was gone. He dug around through some of the drawers to see if there was any ammo. There was some but whoever had come through here earlier had definitely cleared the place. He sighed and took the ammo that was left. He also managed to get his hands on one of the shotguns that hadn't been taken. It was better than nothing. He decided to just check the rest of the station in case there were anymore areas that the cops kept their weapons. He was disappointed though because the only thing he was able to find was a little more ammo for his shotgun and a knife that didn't come close to the size of his. But hell, a knife was a knife, even if it did look pathetic compared to his.

He left the police station just in time to see Merle come out of the store he'd been raiding. Daryl jogged over to him and noticed that his older brother had a few of his own weapons strapped onto him as well. They'd done pretty well.

"I think we need to stop at one more place before we head out," Merle said as he glanced at Daryl.

"Sure. Where do we go?" Daryl asked as he fell into step beside Merle.

"Gotta get us some warmer clothing for winter. Maybe some blankets too. At least sweatshirts. Oh I got us sleeping bags in there by the way." Merle said.

"That's good. Where do you want to go for the coats?"

"This way."

Daryl followed his brother down a couple more streets and then into another store. They began digging through the racks of clothing.

"Try to keep the noise down. If there's any of those biters in here they'll hear us," Merle said as they continued shifting through the jackets. Daryl nodded even though he was barely even making noise. Better to agree with his brother than to start an argument with him. He found a black sweatshirt that looked about his size. He turned to head back to the front of the store when he caught a glimpse of what was going on outside the store. He almost tackled Merle on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Merle growled.

"Lots of them. Outside," Daryl said quietly.

"Yea and its dark as hell in here. We don't need to play secret agents and crawl around on the floor. They can't see us."

"We don't know that. C'mon just don't do anything stupid."

"Fine. But we can't leave here until they get out of our way. We'll have to stay here for a while."

Daryl nodded at Merle and the two of them sat against the wall on one side of the store. Daryl found himself watching the biters limp by outside the window. He didn't know why every disease had to cause so much harm to the people around the person that had it. How the hell had this whole thing even started? He shook the thought out of his head. They sat there for a good hour before it finally started to look a little less biter infested. Merle nodded at him and the two of them got up and were about to head for the door when there was a crash from behind them. The biters were getting in.

**Thanks for reading guys! Reviews would be great! The more reviews I get the faster I'll try to update!**


End file.
